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Sharpe holds first funder

Posted Sep 15, 2011 by William March

Updated Sep 15, 2011 at 05:30 PM

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe has scheduled his first fundraising event for his long-shot congressional race against Kathy Castor.

The list of celebrity politicos participating doesn’t include big national names, but it does include a long list of local influential Republicans. The headliner is Rep. Dennis Ross of Lakeland, and other sponsors include are Sheriff David Gee; six local state legislators; county GOP Chairman Debbie Cox-Roush; and the other four Republican county commissioners.

The host committee includes several names who aren’t well-known, except to those who raise money for Republicans: heavyweight donor/bundlers Rick Michaels, Robert and Nancy Watkins and Hoe Brown.

Rather than an upscale hotel banquet room or Palma Ceia mansion, which might be the expected site for such an event, it will be at the Italian Club in Ybor City next Sept. 27. Holding the event in a Democratic area hints at Sharpe’s stated desire to run even if the district remains predominantly Democratic in the coming redistricting, which some insiders say is likely, and makes Sharpe an underdog in the race.

“That’s the message I wanted to send,” he said. “I love Ybor, and that’s where I wanted to be. I intend to sit down with friend and foe alike” in the campaign.